Two-time jackpot winner to marry childhood sweetheart next month

Amanda Green and John Richardson first dated aged 18 in 1974, but lost touch and married other people.

After divorcing their respective partners, the pair reunited in 2014 but have had to postpone their wedding four times due to the pandemic.

However, Amanda has won the £1,000 jackpot on the Saint Francis Hospice’s lottery in the meantime.

The hospice provides care to more than 4,000 people across Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Brentwood.

Brentwood-based Amanda said: “The win has come at such a great time and we will put the money towards the wedding.

“We can put money behind the bar and do some extra things we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”

Amanda and John celebrate their £1,000 win (Image: Pete Henwood)

Amanda's mother died in the hospice in 2008, and although she was only there for two days, Amanda said the care she received was "brilliant": "The hospice could not have done any more for her and they were so helpful and supportive to our family too - we really did feel included in everything."

She added: "Palliative care and end of life care is very much needed as it is very important when someone is dying that they receive the right care and for the family to be supported at that time.

“The hospice should not have to rely on fundraising but until it is properly funded, the community has to look at ways of bringing in the money and the lottery is a wonderful way of doing it."

This is the grandmother-of-six's second win, having already received the jackpot in 2017 while on holiday with her fiancé.

“I would rather play the hospice lottery than the national lottery so I can support my local hospice.

“I get to feel I have donated and done my bit and at the same time I get a chance to win this fantastic prize – it’s definitely a win-win situation.”

Amanda and John will celebrate their big day on August 5 before heading off on a mini-moon to Stratford-Upon-Avon, where John proposed.